America has always symbolized the land of freedom and opportunity to many of the immigrants. Many came to America seeking for better jobs, better homes, and better lives. However, each group of immigrants struggled with racial formation as they faced all sorts of structural barriers and derogatory representations. Among the immigrants, Irish and Jews were two of the groups who successfully assimilated into the society relatively quickly. These two groups were able to improve their status from laboring class to middle class, and they were able to challenge the structural barriers and dispel the false representation of their race. Faced with famine and oppression, the Irish fled to America in search for freedom and equality; however, they did
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In the effort to rise against the class and representation barriers, the Irish seized the opportunities to promote their whiteness and distinguished themselves from the African American laborers. To fully separate their representation from that of the African Americans, the Irish joined the White Supremacy efforts to dispel Civil War efforts to free the slaves; the once oppressed Irish had become one of the oppressors towards African Americans (Takaki 144). Their discriminatory actions were contradictory to their original goal of seeking freedom and equality in America; however, these actions successfully promoted their whiteness and allowed them to be eligible for naturalization to become citizens (Takaki 152). With citizenship and the right to vote, the Irish increased their political presence and steadily transform their racial category into that of power. For the Jews, they paid the price of assimilation through abandoning their Jewish names for American names and giving up Yiddish for English. Many of the young Jewish men climbed to success by leaving their sisters in the harsh garment factories. While the Irish assimilated at the expense of other minorities for assimilation, the Jews turned to their own community for that opportunity; however, they were both able to transform their racial categories and rose to powerful social
In the effort to rise against the class and representation barriers, the Irish seized the opportunities to promote their whiteness and distinguished themselves from the African American laborers. To fully separate their representation from that of the African Americans, the Irish joined the White Supremacy efforts to dispel Civil War efforts to free the slaves; the once oppressed Irish had become one of the oppressors towards African Americans (Takaki 144). Their discriminatory actions were contradictory to their original goal of seeking freedom and equality in America; however, these actions successfully promoted their whiteness and allowed them to be eligible for naturalization to become citizens (Takaki 152). With citizenship and the right to vote, the Irish increased their political presence and steadily transform their racial category into that of power. For the Jews, they paid the price of assimilation through abandoning their Jewish names for American names and giving up Yiddish for English. Many of the young Jewish men climbed to success by leaving their sisters in the harsh garment factories. While the Irish assimilated at the expense of other minorities for assimilation, the Jews turned to their own community for that opportunity; however, they were both able to transform their racial categories and rose to powerful social